Welcome to the Office and Professional Employees International Union

Office and Professional Employees International Union was chartered in 1945 and with more than 104,000 members (representing 110,000 employees) strong, we’re one of the larger unions of the AFL-CIO. OPEIU has locals in every state, Puerto Rico and Canada. You are not alone when you join OPEIU.

A group of servers who serenade patrons at Time Square’s Ellen Stardust have now, formed a union with–wait for it–the Wobblies (a nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World).
After they unionized earlier this year as Stardust Family United, the owner, Ken Strum, said, Dream on–and wrecked the lives of over 30 staffers by firing them. Now they are picketing outside the venue weekly while singing old union and railroad songs. The waitstaff, consisting of aspiring Broadway actors, decided to organize when new policies prohibited them from easily switching shifts to attend auditions.

New York, NY (October 4, 2016) – The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, CLC, has named Cynthia Schu as its new organizing director.

“I am so pleased that Cindy has agreed to become our organizing director,” said OPEIU President Richard Lanigan. “Cindy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and is respected throughout OPEIU and the labor movement for her many organizing accomplishments and knowledge of innovative and creative approaches to reaching working people.”

Schu joins the International after leading organizing efforts at OPEIU Local 8 in Washington State since 1991. During that time, she assisted OPEIU with a number of organizing campaigns.

The settlement comes after the labor board said employees could interpret parts of the document as forbidding them from discussing wages and unionizing.

WeWork Cos., the world's largest co-working startup, will change some sections of its employee handbook and tell workers that they have the right to form a union as part of a settlement in a National Labor Relations Board case.

The agreement, which WeWork signed Friday, comes after the labor board said in August that employees could interpret parts of the company's policies as forbidding them from engaging in legal activities, such as discussing wages and unionizing. One offending section of the handbook, titled "Do the Right Thing," told employees to weigh whether a situation may be unethical by asking themselves questions like, "How would I feel if it made headlines in news outlets?"

Join the OPEIU Member Action Network

OPEIU members take action every day to make our world a better place for all. That’s why we’ve created the OPEIU Member Action Network.We need members like you to call on for a rapid response to urgent situations impacting working people. The future of our labor movement and OPEIU depends on leaders who are committed to organizing and to advocating for justice.

Will you join us? It takes just a few moments to sign up for the OPEIU Member Action Network here

Office and Professional Employees International Union was chartered in 1945 and with more than 104,000 members (representing 110,000 employees) strong, we’re one of the larger unions of the AFL-CIO. OPEIU has locals in every state, Puerto Rico and Canada.